Miami Marlins select Don Mattingly as new manager
The former Dodger manager agrees to terms to fill Marlins’ managerial opening a week after departing from former club.
If only unemployment could be so kind to all.
Less than a week after departing from the Los Angeles Dodgers, Don Mattingly has found a new home. Reports on Thursday morning report the 54-year-old will become the new manager of the Miami Marlins. Team leadership has not officially confirmed the deal yet, but it is believed to be for four years.
Mattingly and the Dodgers agreed to part ways shortly after the Dodgers failed to make it out of the National League Division Series for the second consecutive year, falling in five games to the New York Mets. Now he will become the Marlins’ third manager in less than a year and eighth since 2010, following on the immediate heels of Mike Redmond and former (as well as potentially future) general manager Dan Jennings.
Even before he had officially left LA, Mattingly was rumored as a strong favorite for the role in Miami. Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria –a native of the New York area— has been a staunch advocate to bring Mattingly to his team, as he has followed him since his time as a New York Yankee. And although he has been notoriously inconsistent his commitment to his organizational structure, perhaps this personal credibility can create a longer leash for Mattingly with Loria.
Yet ironically, it is a lack of solid commitment that played a large role in Mattingly leaving Los Angeles. Regular questions about his ability to get the Dodgers past the level of division champion –an accomplishment that he led to club to his the past three seasons— in addition to jousting with player dispute and lineup format, made for a steady hot seat for Mattingly in LA.
Yet with those elements have been weathered and past him, Mattingly also brings an ideal managerial element to the Marlins, who have aspirations of being a high profile, coastal club in the mold of the Dodgers. He is a recently proven quantity, having guided his Los Angeles club to the previous three NL West titles. Armed with a talented, young roster that should benefit from his ‘players first’ style of leadership, the removal of the tabloid spotlight of LA should benefit him as well. The lure of the young and maturing Marlins roster was said to be a major enticement for Mattingly, which is understandable in the wake of the oft-contentious and ego driven Dodger clubhouse.
After a lost season guided by a first time professional manager in Jennings and a broken finger costing franchise cornerstone Stanton the entire second half of the year, the Marlins struggled to a 71-91 record, good for a distant third place in the National League East. Mattingly, who worked to a 446-363 record in Los Angeles –his first managerial post— has never posted a losing season.
With Mattingly joining Miami, he becomes the second new manager announced in the NL East in as many days. It was reported yesterday, that Bud Black will take over the Washington Nationals’ vacancy.
The San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers stand as the only teams with managerial openings remaining.